She is a beautiful pit bull/terrier mix. Now, I must admit, I was a bit hesitant about adopting a pit bull. You hear so many negative things about them and the only ones that I've ever met before have been less than pleasant. But, as soon as Caleb saw her at the Humane Society, he fell in love... I wasn't far behind him.
You can't tell from this pic, but she has only three legs. One of her back legs had to be amputated the end of last year (we don't know - or care to know - the details behind why). What you can, sort of, tell is that she is smiling... she gives us this face when we give her a treat, scratch behind the ear that she can no longer reach because of the missing leg, even when we just walk through the door after being gone for a bit. That's right, she loves us back... : ).
She was rescued by an Animal Control Officer out of somewhere, Indiana, where it is illegal to have pit bulls. The officer, knowing she would be put to death if brought to the Humane Society down there, personally drove her (and her two brothers) up to the Humane Society of West Michigan. We have no idea what the man was breeding the dogs for... fighting, selling, loving... it's really anybody's guess at this point. What we do know, is that Joy is all about the loving. She is one of the calmest, most affectionate dogs I have ever met.
Many of you know that I am not a pet person... I have owned pets in the past and those experiences have led me to the conclusion that being a pet owner is not a natural thing for me. However, Caleb was quite adamant that he wanted a dog. So, I caved and couldn't be happier with my decision.
While I haven't always been her biggest fan (the first morning we had her, I was alone at the apartment with her and ended up calling both Caleb and my mother in tears because I just couldn't get her to do anything except make messes all over the apartment). Since then, Caleb has been great at training both Joy and myself at how to deal with each other and our little family is doing quite nicely.
Joy has overcome a lot of things in her short life here on earth... almost being euthanized, moving from place to place, losing a leg and being passed on by other owners simply because she has pit bull blood in her.
How many times have we passed over someone or something simply because it wasn't 'perfect'? How many times have we looked at a situation/relationship/job/ministry and not tried to make it work because it wasn't convenient? How many times have we given up a task because it was just too hard? How many times have we given up on something because we didn't want to put forth the extra effort?
How many time have we given up on ourselves because we lack something? How many times have we let our 'missing leg' keep us from moving onward and upward? How many times have we used excuses for not giving it our all...for not loving someone/something?
How many times???
No comments:
Post a Comment